


on the first night of candlenights my true love gave to me

by belugas



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: (but let's be real: also probably the sex toys), (the timeline not the sex toys), Anal Fingering, Candlenights, Canon Compliant, Cunnilingus, F/M, Face-Sitting, Lovingly Hand-Crafted Wooden Sex Toys, Magnus is a bottom, PWP, Pegging, Pre-Canon, Strap-Ons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-04
Updated: 2018-01-04
Packaged: 2019-02-27 12:35:00
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13248348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/belugas/pseuds/belugas
Summary: The past few weeks of downtime have been good for both of them, but Magnus hasn’t been sleeping well, and Julia knows—no matter how well he tries to hide it—that just sitting around is giving him a whole lot of pent-up anxiety. She’s tried to help every way she knows how, but it might be time for more drastic measures.





	on the first night of candlenights my true love gave to me

Even under Kalen’s shadow, Raven’s Roost is beautiful in the winter. 

There’s snow piled high on the street corners and weighing down the boughs of the trees just outside the town; icicles sparkling from the eaves of houses in the daytime and new-fallen snow illuminating the countryside, ghostlike, on clear, moonlit nights. Though still suffering under the mad governor’s rule, the people of Raven’s Roost find warmth and comfort in each other. Despite their hardships, they gather together in their homes, sharing what little they have with a generosity that far exceeds their lack. 

The rebellion is, as always, on high alert, watching for any signs of movement from Kalen’s officers, but the winter had come on quickly this year. The bitter cold set in much sooner and deeper than usual, and the good and evil of the town settled in to weather it alike. The rebel informants have been no less watchful, but days stretch by without news, and they are all glad for the respite. 

Magnus and Julia, for their part, spent the beginning of winter replenishing the rebellion’s stores, fortifying their safehouses and stocking them with weapons, and ensuring that everyone was as safe and well-cared-for as possible, but there was only so much work to be done. It’s mid-Candlenights, now, and they’ve filled the past week with nothing more strenuous than working at the Hammer & Tongs, spending time together and with Steven, and preparing for their own holiday celebrations. 

Despite the rest, Julia thinks that Magnus hasn’t quite seemed like himself. He’s been so tense, lately. Things in Raven’s Roost have, of course, been stressful, to say the least—leading a rebellion isn’t exactly easy—but there are usually plenty of things to _do_. The past few weeks of downtime have been good for both of them, but Magnus hasn’t been sleeping well, and Julia knows—no matter how well he tries to hide it—that just sitting around is giving him a whole lot of pent-up anxiety. 

She’s tried to help every way she knows how, but it might be time for more drastic measures. 

If Magnus can’t make himself relax, she’s going to have to help him.

 

\- - - 

 

“Oof, it’s freezing out there,” Julia mutters, shivering as she quickly pulls the door shut behind her.

She stomps the snow off her boots on the mat in the small entryway before stepping out of them and lining them up neatly next to Magnus’. She pulls off her gloves and scarf, then removes a box that had been tucked inside her coat before hanging it up on its hook. 

“Morning, Jules,” Magnus calls over his shoulder as she walks into the kitchen. He’s at the stove, wearing an apron and making pancakes (with blackberries, her favorite), the warm, sweet smell of them fills the room. There’s a stack of them in the middle of the table, between two plates, and she sets the box down on one of the plates before coming up behind Magnus and wrapping her arms around him. His hair is still mussed from sleep, the cowlick in the back sticking straight up, and even though her extremities are still a little frigid from being out in the cold, the sight of him warms her up from head to toe. 

“Morning, Mags,” she replies, squeezing his waist and smooshing her still-cold cheek against his back. “Mmm, you’re warm.” 

Magnus hums and leans back into her, then tenses when she spreads her hands against his stomach. “You’re not,” he says. He yelps as she slips her cold fingers under the hem of his shirt. “No! No cold fingers!” He tries to wiggle out of her grasp, but he’s stuck between her and the stove with nowhere to go. “Juuuulesss,” he whines, then gives up. “Fine. People with cold fingers don’t get pancakes. Guess I've gotta eat all these by myself, huh?” 

Julia withdraws her hands immediately with an overdramatic sigh and takes a seat at the table. “That’s a low blow, Burnsides,” she says, but she’s grinning at him as he turns around to put the last pancake onto the plate. He grins back at her, a big, goofy, morning smile, before turning back around to switch off the stove. 

He unties his apron, sets it on the back of his chair, then sits down across from her. His brow furrows when he notices the box—complete with a bright red bow—in front of him. 

“It’s one of your Candlenights gifts,” Julia explains. His face falls, and she quickly adds: “I know you like to wait and open our gifts together, but this is something I think you’ll _really_ like, and I think you need it a few days early.” She smiles, a little sheepish. “Also... I couldn’t wait.”

Magnus still looks confused, but he does smile at that. “All right,” he says, then unties the ribbon and opens the box. 

“I went out to the workshop and finished it this morning,” Julia says. She bites her lip as he removes the paper inside to reveal the gift beneath. 

“What—“ says Magnus, looking into the box confusedly for a few long seconds. Then it clicks, and his eyebrows shoot upwards and he says, “Oh.” He lifts the oblong wooden shape out of the box, blushing. 

“It’s, uh,” Julia says, and she’s trying to tamp down her grin because she doesn't want to pressure him, but she's too excited, “sort of for both of us. But you’ve just been so stressed, I thought maybe you could use some...” she thinks for a moment. “Some pampering.”

“Wow,” says Magnus. He’s still looking at it, still turning increasingly deeper shades of red as the blush creeps across his face and up to the tips of his ears.

“‘Wow’ good? Or ‘wow’ bad?” she asks. 

Magnus swallows. He considers the gift for another long moment before answering, “Uh, definitely good. Yeah. Really, really good.”

He meets her eye, finally, and grins.

 

\- - - 

 

The two of them go to bed much earlier than usual that evening, hasty excuses made to Steven and the dinner dishes left piled in the sink for the next morning in their giddy rush.

(Steven absolutely sees through them, of course. How could he not, when he _knows_ his daughter, has known the glint she gets in her eye when she’s not quite telling the truth since she was small? She’s never really been able to lie to him, anyway. And Magnus, for his part, is many things, but subtle is not one of them. Steven doesn’t mind, though. He loves Magnus like a son, and this is the happiest he’s ever seen his daughter. He plays along, nodding solemnly as they excuse themselves from dinner, then smiles and whistles to himself as he does the dishes, remembering what it was like to be young and in love.)

Upstairs, Magnus leans back against the sturdy headboard—handmade by Julia—as she plants her knees on either side of his hips, straddling him as they kiss. 

He’s stripped down to his boxers; she’s in just her underwear and one of Magnus’ oldest, softest shirts. He gets both his hands up under it, tracing up and down her sides before settling one on the small of her back and the other up under her breast. Gods, she’s so warm and so _soft_ —it’s been over a year since they first slept together, and he’s still overwhelmed by her every time. He doesn’t think he’ll ever get over the thrill and the privilege of touching her. 

Julia gasps and grinds her hips down into his as he thumbs across her nipple. She moves down to kiss under his jaw, right where she knows he’s sensitive, and grinds down again, and Magnus can’t help but groan. She sucks a mark into the delicate skin there, still teasing her hips against his, and then pulls away to sit back on his thighs, criss-crossing her arms and pulling the worn shirt over her head in one smooth motion. She’s bare beneath it, and her full breasts bounce as she tosses the shirt across the room. Magnus’ breath hitches at the sight.

“What?” Julia asks, cocking her head and smiling at him. She runs her hands up his sides, leaning in close again. 

Magnus sits up a little more and pulls her even closer. “You’re just—” he kisses her, “—really, really beautiful and I love you,” he says. “And I love your boobs,” he adds, earnest and muffled as he buries his face in her soft chest. Julia laughs. He presses a kiss to her sternum, then drags his mouth across her breast, and her laughter cuts off with a sharp gasp as he teases her nipple with the point of his tongue. 

After a few moments, she pulls back. “Okay, okay,” she says, a little breathless. “Tonight is supposed to be about you, Maggie.” She takes his hand in one of hers, uses the other to smooth his hair back from his forehead before cupping his cheek. 

“You still want me to fuck you?” she asks. 

Magnus half-tries to be anything even tangentially related to “cool,” but fails miserably to contain his smile and the blush he feels spreading across his face. 

“Yeah,” he says, nodding. “Yes. Absolutely.”

Julia grins back at him. “Great.” She presses a quick, sweet kiss to his forehead before moving off him and reaching over to grab a small bottle from her bedside table. (Hers is the one on the left—also easily identified as the one not covered in wood shavings, pocketknives, and small, wooden animal figurines.) She gives him a look and says, “Boxers off, babe,” and he complies as fast as is humanly possible. 

She opens the bottle, tips some of the clear liquid into her palm, and snaps it closed again before setting it down on the sheets. Magnus already looks wrecked as she settles between his thighs—his lips are bright and swollen, his hair tousled, his cock more than half hard just from kissing, his dark blush beginning to spread all the way down to his chest. There’s a trace of shyness in the smile he gives her, and it’s so sweet it makes Julia’s heart ache a little as she nudges his legs apart and settles between them. 

She pauses. “If you ever need me to stop, just say the word, okay, Mags?” she says, cradling his hip with her non-lubed hand as she waits for his assent. 

Magnus nods. “I will, promise.”

Julia lifts one of his knees, hooking it over her shoulder, and then her slicked fingertips are rubbing in firm, gentle strokes between his cheeks until they reach his entrance. She traces slow circles there until she feels him relax into her touch. Slowly, she works her fingertip inside. Magnus gasps and tenses around her at first, and she turns her head to kiss the inside of his knee comfortingly. 

“Shh, relax, Maggie,” she says, thrusting in shallow movements until she feels the tension leave him.

He gradually loosens up under her touch, tense muscles relaxing to make room for her. She slips in a second finger and slowly, slowly moves them together, awestruck by the feeling of him opening up for her, hot and velvet-soft around her fingers.

“You’re doing so good, baby,” Julia says, scissors her fingers a little, and Magnus keens. She hides her smile by kissing his knee again; he’s always so responsive to positive feedback. 

By the time she’s able to slip a third finger into him, Magnus’ hips have started to rock down into the movements of her hand. She presses in, curls her fingers just so and he stiffens and groans. Julia grins and repeats the motion. This time, she leans down, wraps her free hand around his cock and takes the head into her mouth as she sinks her fingers into him a third time. He cries out, hips rocking down into her again. 

“Jules—” he groans, louder, as she thrusts her fingers in time with her movements on his cock. “I— I’m gonna— I can’t—” She takes him deeper into her mouth, the head of his cock bumping against the back of her throat just as she curls her fingers, and that’s enough for him to come, his body curling up around her, crying out as he spills down her throat.

Julia pulls off him and slides her fingers out. Her clean hand moves up to his belly, tracing gentle circles through the wiry hair there as he comes down, his breath evening out. 

“How’re you feeling, babe?” she asks. 

“Fuck,” Magnus says, breathless. 

Julia laughs, not unkindly. “That’s not an answer, Mags.”

Magnus sighs. “That was really good.” He pauses, still catching his breath, before adding “Really, _really_ good.”

“Are you up for part two?” 

He nods. “Yeah. Just… gimme a minute.”

Julia leans forward, presses a kiss to his thigh. “Sure thing,” she says, before leaving the bed.

 

\- - - 

 

Magnus tips his head back against the pillows, closing his eyes as he hears Julia move across the room. He’s still breathing fast, and the hammering of his heart is just beginning to slow down.

Fuck, this was good. 

He’d been a little nervous, but he’d lost himself in the feeling of Julia touching him—of her _inside_ him, fuck—and now all his nerves are swept away in a haze of half-afterglow, half-anticipation. 

He can hear her opening a drawer, shuffling around, but the effort it would take to lift his head feels too tiring to bother with, so he rests. 

Finally, when his heart rate has calmed down and his breath is back to normal, he hears Julia say, “What do you think, Maggie?” 

Magnus lifts his head.

Julia’s standing at the foot of the bed, dark curls framing her face where they’ve fallen out of the bun she tied them up in. She’s completely bare, now, except for the leather harness that criss-crosses her wide hips, the straps winding from her waist, secured around the softness of her stomach, and wrapping around the crease of each of her thighs. The lovingly-crafted wooden dildo, polished to a high shine, stands proudly out from the center. She’s blushing softly as he looks at her, and she’s so beautiful Magnus can barely breathe. He groans as his cock, already half-hard again, twitches against his thigh. 

She shifts, a little shy in place of her usual hearty confidence. “Whaddya think?” she asks, smiling. 

Magnus blinks for a moment—words, words are a little difficult right now, he’s post-orgasm and newly turned on by the sight of the love of his life standing in front of him looking like the sun. She burns so bright, but he never wants to look away; the feeling tugs at something unnameable in his chest. 

“You’re incredible, Jules,” he manages, finally, and his breath hitches on her name. 

And then she’s climbing back onto the mattress, and she’s kissing him, and her hands are in his hair and his are stroking over the straps on her hips and the dildo nestles against his cock, bumping his stomach as she moves and gods, Magnus feels like he might spontaneously combust. 

When she pulls back she’s blushing in earnest, now, and she looks him in the eye, strokes his cheek with her thumb, and asks, “You ready, baby?”

“Yes,” Magnus hears himself answer, voice hoarse with want. “Yes, fuck, please.” 

She grins, kisses him on the forehead. “Okay.”

And then she’s settling back between his legs again, and she slicks up the wooden cock before hooking each of his knees over her strong, broad shoulders. Magnus feels her pressing against his slick entrance as she lifts his hips, and Julia eases the tip of it past his rim, and he groans at the perfect stretch of it.

She moves carefully at first, her thrusts slow and sweet, and Magnus wants to watch her but he can’t keep his eyes open, overwhelmed by sensation. He hears a sound and distantly realizes he’s moaning as she rocks into him. He’s moving up into each thrust, now; Julia lifts his hips just a little more, changes the angle of her own just slightly before thrusting back in, and she hits a spot inside him that makes him yell and his body clench around her. 

She picks up the pace, and soon Magnus is shaking with it, so close to the edge but unable to reach it. “Jules,” he groans, eyes shut, body strung tight around her, and she shifts again, puts a little more power into her movements. 

“You’re doing so good, Maggie,” she says, just as she drives into him with particular accuracy, and it’s perfect, and that’s all it takes to tip him over the edge. He comes onto his chest and belly, shouting as his body clenches around her, and his vision goes white for a moment. 

He comes down from orgasm to Julia stroking her hands gently up and down his thighs. She pulls out of him and he groans weakly at the loss. 

For long moments, he’s unable to do anything other than rest in the warm, soft haze of afterglow, until he’s brought back to reality by the dip of the mattress as Julia slips back into bed beside him. 

He wills himself to turn his head and open his eyes. She’s cleaned herself up and taken off the harness. She’s got her lower lip between her teeth, one hand around one of her breasts while she reaches the other down to where she’s visibly, achingly wet between her legs. Magnus looks at her just in time to see her draw a finger slowly from her entrance to her clit and shiver, gasping softly. 

Thoroughly fucked-out or not, there’s no way in the astral plane that Magnus is going to make her take care of herself. 

“C’mere,” he rumbles, reaching for her with a still-wobbly arm. 

Julia scoots into his embrace, and Magnus is more than done-for for the evening, but the press of her soft chest against his is still so, so good. He kisses her deep and slow, nudges her hand away and slips one of his own thick fingers into her cunt, and she whines into his mouth, hips pressing down into his palm of their own accord. Fuck, she’s wet. He slips another finger into her for a few moments more, and then draws his fingers out and rolls onto his back. 

“Mags, you don’t have to,” she protests, but now she’s the one trying to catch her breath, and she doesn’t pull away when he tugs her onto her knees, just above his shoulders, and Magnus’ big, calloused hands guide her by the hips down towards his mouth.

She moans loudly as soon as he touches her. He flicks his tongue over her, clit to entrance, as she grinds down onto his face, no longer able to hold back. He gets his tongue _inside_ of her as she works her hips down, and he can feel the tension in her trembling thighs that means she’s almost there, and it’s only a few moments more before she’s finally grinding into him, every muscle singing with it, clenching around his tongue and soaking his face with her release as she nearly screams. 

Julia rolls off him, breathing hard. She lies there a moment, arm thrown over her face, before turning to look at him. When she does, she giggles. “You’re a mess,” she says, looking him up and down. “Oops. I’ll be right back.” She rolls off the bed and returns with a warm, damp towel a few moments later. 

“Here, babe,” she says, wipes off his face and chest before tossing the towel off the bed. Magnus smiles. “Thanks,” he says, and opens his arms for her to crawl into. 

They lie there for long moments, breathing in time with each other, Julia nestled against Magnus’ side, head tucked under his chin as her hair tickles his nose. 

Finally, Julia breaks the silence. “Was that a good present?” she asks.

Magnus grins, presses a kiss to the top of her head before answering. 

“The best present,” he says.

Julia hums contentedly. “Happy Candlenights, baby,” she says, and she leans up and kisses his cheek. “Do you feel better?”

Magnus—relaxed head-to-toe for the first time in weeks, and more in love with her than ever—nods and blushes. 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> [a post on tumblr](http://rabdoidal.tumblr.com/post/167114360590/rabdoidal-rabdoidal-rabdoidal-hey-taako) mentioned julia pegging magnus, and i knew what i had to do. 
> 
> timeline note: this takes place after magnus lost his memory and before the destruction of raven's roost—he and julia may not have gotten married until after kalen was defeated, but that potentially leaves a few years during which they _totally_ could have been leading a secret rebellion together and also definitely boning. thank you for coming to my ted talk.
> 
> i did mean to finish this earlier, but thankfully candlenights—pan-religious, pansexual, personal pan holiday that it is—technically doesn't end until i feel it in my heart. so, happy candlenights! also: many, many thanks to iwritesometimes and erebones for beta-ing this ♥
> 
> come yell with me on tumblr about how good the waxman-burnsideses are on tumblr @bburnsides


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